The random thoughts, ideas, and experiences of the title blogger, plus other things.

Sunday, February 04, 2007

"Oh. John, why did you shove a needle into your arm, day after..." "BECAUSE I NEED IT! BECAUSE IT'S MINE!"

Thanks to the one and only Filmpac, here's the soundtrack for the infamous John Belushi biopic, 1989's "Wired," based on (but, as the final product, doesn't have to do with) the much-scrutinized bestseller by Bob Woodward. Boycotted by Belushi's friends and family due to it's unflattering portrayal of him as a drug-abusing bully (and maybe in part due to the unconventional method used to tell his story), the film died a quick death at the box-office while the critics savaged everything about it but one thing: the man who played Belushi did a damn good job, and this man was a complete unknown named... Michael Chiklis.

Yes, the man who plays Vic Mackey on "The Shield" and played The Thing in the recent "Fantastic Four" movie plays Belushi (his first role, as a matter of fact).

We open on the night of March 5, 1982 as a morgue attendant wheels in a gurney with a bagged body on it. After the attendant leaves for the night, the body unzips the bag from the inside and rises. John Belushi, completely freaked out, covers himself in a sheet and runs out of the morgue. Flagging down a cab driven by Angel (Ray Sharkey), he's taken on a tour of his past that can only be described as "It's a Miserable Life." Angel is John's guardian angel ("You sure fucked up." John says), and he wants to show him what drugs did to his life before he gets him to cross over.

Meanwhile, Belushi's widow, Judy (Lucinda Jenney) asks Bob Woodward (J.T. Walsh), who John very much wanted to meet due to his work on "All the President's Men," to write a biography of his life and to figure out why he went to drugs. Among the people Woodward meets is Cathy Smith (Patti D'arbanville in an excellent performance), the woman who administered the drug overdose that killed John.

While the movie may not have been great, the soundtrack fared much better. Chiklis could sing, which was required for the scenes that had Chiklis and Gary Groomes (who played Dan Aykroyd) doing their Blues Brothers act. There's also "Still Looking for a Way to Say Goodbye," performed by Richie Havens, which did tear me up, Joe Strummer's "Love Kills," Chiklis singing "You Are So Beautiful," accompanied by the late Billy Preston, The Ventures performing "Two Thousand Pund Bee," a piece by Brian Francis Neary, and three selections of the great score by the late Basil Poledouris (the highlight of the three is the beautiful "Eulogy."). It's a great soundtrack. Download and enjoy.